BeforeJoe Bidenofficially launched his2020 presidential campaign, he personally calledAnita Hillto apologize.
Biden, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 1991 confirmation hearing of then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, was criticized at the time for not stopping the vicious attacks on Hill when she testified that Thomas had allegedly sexually harassed her.
And earlier this month, Biden, 76, expressed his regret over “what she endured” testifying against Justice Thomas. “Vice President Biden has spoken with Anita Hill. They had a private discussion where he shared with her directly his regret for what she endured and his admiration for everything she has done to change the culture around sexual harassment in this country,” a spokesperson for Biden said in a statement to PEOPLE.
However, in an interview with theNew YorkTimesthat was published Thursday, Hill, 62, said she does not accept Biden’s call as an apology.
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“The focus on apology to me is one thing. But he needs to give an apology to the other women and to the American public because we know now how deeply disappointed Americans around the country were about what they saw,” Hill explained.
“And not just women. There are women and men now who have just really lost confidence in our government to respond to the problem of gender violence,” she added.
A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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In September 2018, Biden said heregretted how Hill was treatedin the 1991 hearings. Last fall, Christine Blasey Ford accused now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaughof sexually assaultingher at a party when they were both in high school. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
During that sameTodayinterview, the former vice president and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, were asked about his 2020 candidacy.
“I desperately want to change the landscape, and there’s more than one way to do that … you got a lot of talented people, but we got to stop this degradation of the system that’s going on,” he said as his wife added: “I think Joe, you would make a great president.”
source: people.com
